 My name is Eugene Sylvester. I'm the head of the Consumer Commercial Division at Roscoe Procom Ltd. Roscoe Procom is a part of the Augustini Group. We have four divisions in Roscoe Procom. I wanted to just give you all a quote from an Irish author. And he once said, his name is George Bernard Shaw. And George Bernard Shaw said, youth is wasted on the young. He says that young people waste their youth by engaging in trivial pursuits that does not carry them anywhere. But in general, from what we see in the media and on social media, we know some of our compatriots are lost. In everything you do, balance, right? In work, in play, in school academics, in linemen, in football, balance. So right now, most of your 18, 19, that kind of age moving into the second decade of your life or the third decade of your life, you've got to be doing something different. You've got to have a plan for that decade. And then when there is 30, an next plan. I can't tell you what that plan is. You have to know what it is you want to achieve. Unless you went away feeling uncomfortable, that is when you're growing the most. Continuous learning, keep learning. When I say learning, I don't mean going back to school, academics, not necessarily, but learn something new all the time, a new skill. I would encourage other corporate sponsors to consider being a part of youth sponsorships, youth in sports. Sport is an activity that encourages good attitudes and behaviors and instills discipline, teamwork, and it provides an outlet for that energy that they have. Our sponsorship of the Prez Lyon football team gives us immense pride as a management body and employees as well as the organization. All right, welcome back to the Sports Mac Zone. We continue with football of the schoolboy variety. Having already secured the title, our lady of Fatima College will seek to close their Trinidad and Tobago Secondary Schools football league campaign in style when they face St. Mary College on Friday. Fatima crowned SSFL champions in dramatic fashion last Saturday after they came from a goal down in the second half injury time to beat Naprima College to one and clinch their first national league title since 1978. Their assistant coach, Hisham Gomes, joins us on Zoom to discuss his team's historic title triumph. Good afternoon, Hisham. How are you? Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. Congratulations. You know, I know Fatima College have worked and waited for this day. How does it feel? It's a tremendous feeling for the college, the community, also for the North because our school is located in the North and I think at the start when they reintroduced the premiership league, I think it was only one in the South. So it's a very, very great time for the community and for the school itself and their supporters alike. Yeah, I have to agree because even in my time growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, the South schools were dominating. It was either Naprima Boys, Prez or St. Benedict's College that walked away with the title time after time. So now you have created history with this team. Talk to me about the calibre of players that was able to achieve this feat. First of all, let's not say me because it's a team and the school is pretty much resourceful. It's a great, great feeling to be able to set some goals with a bunch of young men, along with the other technical staff coaches and be able to come to fruition. It's a really, really great feeling. One of the things... Go ahead. We started our process in late June and we talk about nutrition, we deal with in-house camp, a lot of training and it's a tremendous feeling to see these boys achieve one of the goals that they set out to accomplish this season. And one of the things about Fatima College is it's known for academic excellence. So when you think Fatima College, you think, okay, the boys are going to a bright school, what we say in Trinidad and Tobago. Now that Fatima College has won this title and it's a prestigious one, especially where schoolboy football is concerned, do you think, you know, of course it's going to be expected now that you uphold that dominance where football is concerned? I would say it is expected because our fans, our supporters, our sponsor, our principal, the head of the Holy Ghost fathers, Father Gregory, they hold us to very, very, very high standards. I would say, I would go as far as to say that we have probably, I don't want to say the brightest, but I would say we have a team that has attained the best academic record in the league because of the standards that they put on the players, on the coaches and on Fatima Old Boys Association, which is also another big sponsor. And then we have the security zone, which is a major sponsor as well, our head sponsor. And they put a lot of pressure on us in academics and also on the field. Yeah, Hisham, I know you had won the inter-call title coming into the season, into the new season, but how much did it take to make the step up to land the premiership, which obviously is the more prestigious of the titles? I would say learning experience, doing your homework properly because we were runners-up last year. So it was about knowing we wanted this trophy because they haven't won it since 1978. And previously, before that, I thought I think it was 1973. So this one here has been eluding the North Zone or the rest of the zones in the nation and also Fatima. So this one we really wanted. I mean, we want all, of course, but this one we knew we set a goal to achieve it by our head coach and our technical director, Mr. Hudson Charles, who is arguably the winningest schoolboy football coach in Trinidad and Tobago, based on his record. Yeah, I'd mentioned last week on the show that Fatima is a school that can boast some world stars in sport, Fran Lara and Atto Bolden, who are former students at Fatima. But talk to us about the difficulty in winning this championship because there were some good competition that you were facing. I saw San Juan North, I think, with Lindell Swim, very, very talented player, one of several talented players in the San Juan North team. You know, teams like that were tough. Were they the toughest on your course to the title and how did you feel about the opposition you faced? Well, according to Hudson Charles, Hudson Barbara Charles, who's a former national player that was on the brink of making it to the World Cup back in 1990. Yeah, the strike squad. The strike squad, you know it. He always maintained our next game is the most important game and every game is like a final. We also have Mr. Russell Sutton, Coach Russell Sutton, who they have been friends since about 13 years old and they played for the regiment and for the national teams. So we have a very, very, very strong unit of technical coaches throughout the entire college from form one all the way up to upper six. I don't know if you call it upper six in Jamaica, but we call it, you know, upper six form. Yes. And we always stress to the boys that the next game was the most important game. Sauer was a tough team. We came back to beat them 5-2 with 10 men. Same thing with Naparima. We came back to beat them with 10 men. So after the game, I was like, maybe we should just form a system with 10 players and see what happens because we just somehow find the grit and the tenacity to respond and get a positive result when we go down. You know, and everybody wants to beat Fatima because rightfully now we have a lot of talent. We are very deep in most positions. So it's very difficult to want to see us do well. We know that for a fact. And maybe we have that chip on our shoulders of consciously and find a way to dig it out. But Naparima was tough. Sauer was tough. St. Benedict is always like a thorn in our spine. I'm sure we're probably going to see them again. But you have to take one game at a time. And our goal was to try to win the league before it was finished, before the last day, because we knew that those difficult teams have to play each other as well and points will be lost somewhere along the line. So once we take your business, we will be fine. Yeah, one more thing, Hashim, because I remember going to Fatima probably 10 or 12 years ago. And I seem to remember the school compound having like an undersized football field. Does that still exist? Because it is not a football field that you could train properly on for a real match, is it? No, no, no, no. Let me talk a little bit, Creole. What had happened was, is that you didn't come on the side of the field where the real ground is. It's on the other side of the road. On the road. You came into the school compound and saw the little quadrangular where we have interhouse and interclass sports. He probably wasn't allowed. You didn't see on the other side of the road. Across the road, yes. Yeah, yeah. You know, Hashim, not only have you won this Premiership, but you've done it playing real attractive football. Fatima leads scoring in the Premiership with 49 goals and a couple of youngsters, I think, have done extremely well, over 20 goals between them. Michael Chavez and Aidan DeGones, I just want to get your thoughts on what they brought to the team this season. You're talking about two guys that you can tell are passionate about what they do. Even when things aren't going how they want it to go, they would still put in the effort after practice or they, we might say, take the day off and you catch them on the field. What are you guys doing on the field? And that is not just limited to those two players. They have their personal goals in life as well, but you can tell that they are passionate about their school and the community and they put in the work for it. They definitely deserve to get all the accolades that they get along with the rest of the team. I don't want to limit anybody because it's not golf, we're playing on tennis. And in just about 15 or 20 seconds, you close out the season, final match of the premiership on Friday. How important is it for your team to go out there and finish strongly? Yes, you have the title, but as champions now, I suspect that you want to really press that home and say to the remainder of the teams, we're champions this year and we're going to be difficult to beat next year again and we're going to lay down yet another marker, even from now. Well, I would say that at the start of the season, we said if we wrapped it up, we would shut off engines to get prepared for, I think the equivalent of your... Is it ISSA or ISSA? ISSA. ISSA. The equivalent of your ISSA Championship Cup, which is our Intercont. Yes. So we said we would shut off engines, but it's a rival school. It's a school that I actually attended, St. Mary's College. They're both Holy Ghosts run like the Jesuits of St. George's. So there is no Latin dung, and it is my hope that they get a proper spanking tomorrow. So Coach, you're okay with your team now that you're coaching to beat up your old school? That is totally fine. Oh, wow. That is totally fine. Spank them. If I worked at my old school, then I wouldn't be saying that, but I am where I am now. I live in the present. Oh, wow. And there is no mercy for anybody. Yeah, but your Hudson Charles went to East Moor Karrupo, didn't he? Yes, and what you need to know is that the relationship with the three of us is... They are separated in Trinidad and Tobago by a wall. There is a wall. They actually, in their school boy days, they had a key for the gate, and they would practice six o'clock in the morning, and Fatima would practice in the evening. It's just a wall. But there is a brotherly love, and then I came from a rival school, so none of us attended Fatima, which is probably, I would say arguably, one of the best schools you can coach for because you get support from every facet of the... All branches of the school and all the moving parts that bring this together. All right, well, Esham, it was a pleasure chatting with you here on the Sports Mac Zone. Best of luck in your final game, and we'll be watching you very closely next season. Well, hopefully we can live up to the intercal cup, and it was a pleasure. Thank you for the interview, and we will see what happens tomorrow. All right, very, very spicy interview there. Esham Gomes, the assistant coach of Fatima College, winning that SSFL title. Let's take a break. We'll be back.